Extensive improvements have been achieved in the performance, comfort, convenience and reliability of automotive vehicles during the century since their inception. Inexplicably, there has not been a corresponding improvement in the ability of vehicles to contribute to the avoidance of collisions, in particular, those which are attributable to inadequate rear view field of vision capability. During normal, daily operating activities there are often moments of exposure to the potential of such events. Many of these moments are related to the occurrence of certain critical locations in roadways.
Because of the diversity of types of critical locations in the world-wide road system, the problems of rearward vision requirements come in all shapes and sizes. They occur frequently, and at an ever-increasing rate because of the steady addition to the vehicle and vehicle operator populations, due to both demographics and economics.
The coupling of the uneven evolutionary progress of the above-mentioned vehicle development and its collision avoidance capability with economic and demographic trends has resulted in the growth of a serious, multi-faceted problem. To understand its scope, consider that in a recent ten year period, approximately 3,000 fatalities, 1,500,000 injuries, and $360 billion in property damages, attributed to side-to-side collisions alone, have been estimated, based on statistics gathered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Add to this the other categories of automotive operational difficulties, and the magnitude of the need for a major improvement in collision avoidance capability becomes evident.
Some examples of these periodic occurrences of critical operating conditions are entering intersections of roads that meet at acute angles, entering acute angle intersections into roadways from parking areas, entering high-speed roads from entrance ramps, and changing lanes on multi-lane roads. Also, many backing-up maneuvers, such as in parking lots and parking/exiting procedures in difficult curbside parking spaces, frequently qualify as critical. Thus, it addresses safety issues of paramount importance.
The current state of the art, operator-side exterior rear view mirror in automotive vehicles is located in a range of 25-30 inches, approximately, from the operator's eyes, depending on how the vehicle's manufacturer has mounted the mirror on the vehicle. Ideally, he or she needs to see completely to the left rear, by the above definitions of critical operating conditions, in order to know how much headway is available, so that a determination can be made whether the vehicle can safely enter a roadway, but the operator side mirror's field of vision is narrow, as will be discussed below. The same field of vision requirement is present for the passenger side, but here the location range for the exterior mirror is usually 48-55 inches from the operator's eyes, which adds more difficulty because of the additional narrowing of the reflected field of vision caused by the increased distance of the mirror from the operator.
In each case, therefore, because of the current state of the art of rear view mirror arrangements in automotive vehicles, the operator is forced to make a rapid, fairly extreme, turning and twisting movement of eyes, head, neck and body in order to fulfill a truly safe field of vision requirement, when confronted with the above noted situations. Such body movement creates additional hazards, and also is not realizable in many cases. The operator-side is the more frequently encountered condition because it is usually the side involved in accessing roadways via entrance ramps.
Entering intersections of roads that meet at acute angles (herein defined as less than 90 degrees to the axis of the vehicle) and entering high speed roads from entrance ramps are constant occurrences when operating an automotive vehicle. Acute angle intersection configurations are so diverse as to be almost infinite, given the size of the world wide road system. Therefore, the benefits that will accrue as a result of improvement to an operator's rear view capability are vast. The problem is slightly different for operator-side and passenger-side conditions, but the inventive principle described herein applies to both situations.
Entrance ramps are a form of acute angle intersection of roadways. Older roadways and highways have some very difficult entrance ramp situations to negotiate, and a vehicle frequently has little space in which to accelerate to the necessary speed for safe insertion into the flow of traffic. Hence, the need to have a clear vision as far back, and over as large a field of vision as possible, particularly on roads that make sweeping turns into the ramp/road intersection. On some of the newer roads, longer access lanes provide additional time for acceleration of an inserting vehicle, but these also tend to be very high speed roads, therefore requiring much higher insertion speeds which, in turn, reduces the time to make an informed decision as to go, or no-go. At these moments, what the operator needs most is maximum rear view vision and maximum accurate ranging information, so as to determine available headway in a very compressed window of time. Unfortunately, current rear view mirror systems do not provide sufficient rear view vision capability to meet that need.
Whether from parking areas in large malls or strip malls, or any other off-road parking, exiting from parking locations can be just as critical, even though in most of these situations road traffic speed is usually lower than on highways.
In a sense, because the speeds involved are usually higher than in entrance ramp situations, changing lanes on multiple lane roads is really an extreme case of acute angle intersection (becoming such a situation as the lane change maneuver begins). In the case of three, four or more lane high-speed “super highways,” the degree of criticality is even higher. Most vehicle operators are generally aware of the traditional “blind spots” immediately to the rear on both sides of a vehicle, which result from, among other things that will be discussed in more detail below, a combination of individual model structural design (roof pillars) and the limitations of currently used mirror systems. However, few know the detail of how these individual factors contribute to the rear view problem, which is a major cause of difficulty for an operator in making a decision as to when to initiate a lane change. In other words, most drivers are really not aware of other “virtual blind spots,” i.e., those associated with critical rear view situations. An example is the “virtual” blind spot in an acute angle intersection situation, when the intersection occurs at the end of a curve in the lane (or road) being joined.
Thus, whether negotiating an acute angle intersection or entering a left side or right side lane change, a back-up maneuver, or performing curbside parking/exiting, having improved field of vision capability beyond what is currently available is essential.
It is sobering to consider that despite more than a hundred years of evolution, automotive technology has not progressed farther in the amount of assistance provided to vehicle operators for this purpose.
The rear view vision systems currently available include an internal mirror and left and right side external mirrors that are adjustable to the physical characteristics, or the preferences of, the operator. The internal mirror and the operator-side mirror are flat, and the passenger-side mirror is usually convex. That convexity is occasioned by a desire on the part of the vehicle manufacturer to increase the operator's far side rear view field of vision from the relatively reduced amount available to him because of the distance between his eyes and the passenger side external mirror. But convexity does not solve all issues, as discussed below.
Some vehicle owners add supplementary mirrors adjacent to the external mirrors. They may also adhesively mount small, possibly convex, supplemental mirrors directly on the external mirrors. Sometimes, too, a convex mirror, or simulated convex mirror (by means of a series of small flat mirrors in a convex holding frame) is added in place of, or in addition to the internal mirror, in an attempt to improve rearward field of vision. Obviously, these actions by some owners are a further indication of the inadequacy of the rear view field of vision capability of present day vehicles. However, these additional devices also have their own deficiencies.
Supplemental external mirrors can send back multiple confusing images under the stress of a situation. A further deficiency is that under certain sun or night time lighting conditions they can cause glare back to the driver or occupants of the vehicle. Others have proposed mirrors that can be activated to scan small portions of the rear view spectrum (defined by the 180° degree arc rearward of a line perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle) and then return to a normal driving position. The “blind spot,” which such efforts address, only accounts for a small portion of the rear view spectrum. However, critical areas within the rear view spectrum are not addressed, such as portions of the rear view spectrum beyond the blind spot. These areas include, for example, a zone beyond the blind spot where critical vehicle maneuvering information can be acquired (e.g., whether or not it is safe to change lanes or merge), as well as a “peripheral zone” which represents a zone in which an object can be visually sensed with peripheral vision (and which varies from person to person).
Another problem with present-day rear-view systems is that they require turning the head, neck, and even the body of the operator to achieve a full rear view. This movement is dangerous and can lead to pulling on the steering wheel, causing the car to drift across lanes. A further serious danger is the possibility of temporary spatial disorientation occurring should the operator's head be rotated too suddenly in haste to return to the eyes-forward position. These problems also make obtaining a full rear view difficult or impossible for the elderly or the physically disabled. Indeed, solving such problems would be a tremendous benefit to drivers over the age of 65, particularly in view of the fact that this driving population is projected by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety to increase from 27.3 million licensed drivers over the age of 65 in the year 2000 (representing approximately 14% of the driving population) to over 65.4 million in the year 2030 (representing approximately 26% of the driving population). Thus, eliminating the need for the over-the-shoulder look in order to obtain rear-view information would represent a major contribution to operational safety.
Accordingly, what would be desirable for a considerable improvement in collision avoidance, but has not yet been provided, is a rear view mirror assembly and system that can be operated to view any specific area within the entire rear view spectrum. The disclosed invention accomplishes this objective, and additionally, provides a significant, unexpected benefit of greatly reducing the operator's mental stress and fatigue associated with the hazards of critical road situations.